Smoking Cessation for American Indians

This study will use a group randomized multi-site clinical trial design to examine the efficacy of a culturally-tailored smoking cessation program (ANBL) for AI/AN smokers versus Non-tailored (NT). AI/AN smokers in two sites (Kansas and Oklahoma) will be group randomized to either ANBL or Non-tailored (NT). Each site (KS and OK) will randomize 28 groups, resulting in 14 groups per arm of the intervention, per site. Participants in both groups (ANBL and NT) will be offered pharmacotherapy (e.g. varenicline or bupropion or NRT). The primary outcome of interest will be biochemically verified continuous abstinence at 1 year. Secondary endpoints include number of quit attempts and number of cigarettes smoked (among continuing smokers), pharmacotherapy utilization, and the number of completed group sessions. We will also examine the marginal cost-effectiveness of the intervention. The study will proceed in three phases over a five-year period. Phase I will consist of development and training. Phase 2 will be to conduct the randomized trial, and Phase 3 consists of data analysis and dissemination. Participants will be recruited from two sites: Kansas and Oklahoma. Although the ANBL arm is a group intervention and the NT arm is individual standard care, the unit of randomization will be at the group level (further discussed in the next section - Randomization process). Recruitment and randomization will be balanced by site: both sites will recruit until we reach our target sample size of 448 AI/AN smokers who are at least 18 years of age. Each site will randomize 28 groups (14 groups per arm) with 8 smokers in each group for a total site sample size of 224 smokers per site. Pharmacotherapy: The PI and site PI of this study along with our AI/AN community members agreed that all participants (ANBL and NT arms) had to be offered pharmacotherapy (varenicline or bupropion or NRT) as a component of the study design. This decision was a collaborative one between the AI/AN tribes and the investigators who have worked with this population. The AI/AN community will not accept placebo treatment, therefore, the interventions would not be acceptable or feasible to potential participants if a placebo was part of the study design. In addition, we believed it was ethically imperative that we provided smoking cessation interventions consistent with the current clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of tobacco use.